Mike Johnson is speaker again

By OC Tribune Staff on January 3, 2025 • ( Leave a comment )

SPEAKER of the House Mike Johnson (Wikipedia).

It wasn’t easy, but it was close. Mike Johnson won another term as Speaker of the House on Friday, turning back a challenge from “hardline” Republicans.

The vote in the closely-divided House of Representatives was 218-215, according to the Associated Press. Johnson had to “flip” two votes to get the victory.

All the Democrats voted for Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader.

Johnson’s efforts to retain the gavel were assisted by President-elect Donald Trump, who gave his endorsement.

The dissenting Republicans were concerned about the inability of previous Republican majorities to cut taxes and trim the federal budget.

Trump’s conviction is upheld

The conviction last year of Donald Trump for offenses connected to a “hush money” scandal was upheld Friday by the same judge that presided over his trial.

FORMER President Donald Trump sits in the court room with his lawyers at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, Thursday, April 25 2024. He was convicted on 34 felony counts (Mark Peterson/Pool Photo via AP)

The New York Times reports that State Supreme Court judge Juan M. Merchan upheld the jury’s decision on 34 felony counts last May, but indicated that any penalties would be light or non-existent.

Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 10 – the president-elect must appear in person – but Merchan indicated he would prefer an “unconditional release” for Trump. That would affirm his status as a convicted felon, but not require jail time, a fine or restitution.
Trump still can appeal his conviction to a higher court.

The jury found Trump guilty of a variety of charges including falsifying business records to conceal the payment to a pornographic actress with whom he allegedly had sexual relations.

Alcohol use tied to cancer

A LINK has been established between alcohol and cancer (Shutterstock).

There’s a connection between consumption of alcohol and cancer, and the risk should be included on the labels of alcohol.
That’s what U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy proposed in an advisory on Friday.

The Associated Press reports that Murthy contends that there’s mounting research and evidence that consumption of alcohol – beer, wine and liquor – contributed to almost one million preventable cancers cases in the United States over the last 10 years.

He’s advocating for a label that indicates that consuming alcohol increases the chances of developing cancer of the liver, breast and throat.

Weather: clouds and then sun

If you can wait until Tuesday, you can again enjoy sun in our West Orange County cities. Saturday is forecast for a daytime high of 61 with an overnight low of 49 under cloudy skies. Sunday will warm to 69 (47) with partly cloudy conditions. Monday should be a bit cooler at 67 (49) and Tuesday, too, at 66 (51) but the sun should be out by then.